Watch the TVC created by Primetime Communication here

Shoe brand Red Chief is out with a new TV campaign targeting Indian youth. The film features Virat Kohli and has been shot in Bangkok.

The film, created by Primetime Communication, begins with Virat Kohli cruising on a motorbike on the roads of Bangkok and meeting friends. A goon tries to bully him but Kohli stamps his foot and begins to run. After a long chase, they get on the terrace of a building, where Kohli declares it’s time to fly. They jump off the terrace with Kohli landing firmly on his feet on the roof of a passing vehicle. The film ends with Kohli voicing the brand message, “Hey chief! Think on your feet.”

Manoj Gyanchandani, managing director, Leayan Overseas (the manufacturer of Red Chief shoes), said, “The communication task was to effectively ride the persona of Virat Kohli, which is not restricted to his feats on cricket ground. We wanted to devise a campaign, which can exploit the naughtiness, heroism of Kohli and connect it with the ruggedness yet comfort of Red Chief. Both the factors had to be given equal importance.”

Sudeep Bhatia, partner, Primetime communication, added, “We wanted an action-based film. We wanted to incorporate humour in the advertisement on the lines of action films like Dabangg. The script was developed keeping these elements in mind and then we added inputs from Prabhu Deva, who was the director. Initially, the ad looks like Virat has run away from the goons while he is actually leading him in.”

He explained the target audience for the brand: “The brand is of high quality but they do not have a presence in metros like Bombay and Delhi, as they are sold in multi-brand outlets in tier 2 and tier 3 towns and in smaller metros. They wanted to catch the aspirations of youth in the Hindi heartland and they did not want to divert the attention away from the product. They wanted an advertisement, which is directly related to their brand. The advertisement was to highlight the product as well as Kohli.”

The campaign will see executions across TV, print, outdoor, digital, and cinema. It will run for the next two years with more commercials in the offing.